An elephant´s trunk, a union of the nose and
upper lip, is a highly sensitive organ with over 100,000 muscle units.

Do you want more physical information? Please
see the anatomy section!

Interesting
Facts

Elephant trunks can get very heavy. It is not uncommon to see elephants
resting them over a tusk!

Elephants cry, play, have incredible memories, and laugh!

Elephants are sensitive fellow animals where if a baby complains, the
entire family will rumble and go over to touch and caress it.

Elephants have greeting ceremonies when a friend that has been away for
some time returns to the group.

Elephants grieve at a loss of a stillborn baby, a family member, and in
many cases other elephants.

Elephants don't drink with their trunks, but use them as "tools"
to drink with. This is accomplished by filling the trunk with water and then
using it as a hose to pour it into the elephant's mouth.

Interestingly, the Asian elephant is more closely related to the extinct
mammoth than to the African elephant (see evolution).

"Therefore understanding that rests in what it
does not understand is the finest"Chuang Tzu
translated by Burton Watson

An Introduction to Elephant ImpactA Super Keystone Species

It seems inevitable that as long as we humans impose our own theories on how
to best govern nature, there will be a difference of opinion of
"animal" management. Over the course of evolution, the elephant as we
know it today has evolved into a strong forced bulldozer that has the power to
modify the landscape it resides in. For elephants their effect on the landscape
is often considered destruction, but is it?

The answer to this question partially depends on your preconceived views of
"nature". If you see nature as something static and in a particular
way then any change no matter how minute will amount to destruction. An
interesting statistic found in the book African Elephants: A Celebration of
Majesty about this issue; a general estimation shows that Man is clearing more
forests in one day that all the elephants in Africa will 'destroy' within one
year. Put in perspective, the effect that elephants have on their environment
may not be as serious are we have been led to believe.

Unfortunately for some, our narrow opinion of seeing elephants as only
living bulldozers of destruction is far from the case. As much as 80 percent of
what elephants consume is returned to the soil as barely digested highly
fertile manure.

The Ecological Impact of the Elephant is Priceless!

Elephants provide a vital role in the ecosystem they inhabit.

They modify their habitat by converting savannah and woodlands to
grasslands

Elephants can provide water for other species by digging water holes in dry
riverbeds

the depressions created by their footprints and their bodies trap rainfall

Elephants act as seed dispersers by their fecal matter. It is often carried
below ground by dung beetles and termites causing the soil to become more
aerated and further distributing the nutrients

Their paths act as firebreaks and rain water conduits

An Elephants journey through the high grass provides food for birds by
disturbing small reptiles, amphibians or insects.

In the tradition of elephant sites, we have
provided a breakdown of elephants into two categories for basic physical
statistics. Keep in mind that the two "groups" are quite different
genetically and the Asian elephant (as noted) is actually more closely related
to the extinct mammoth than the African elephant.

The Asian elephant,
Elephas Maximus, has an enormous domed head with relatively small ears,
an arched back and a single finger like protuberance that is located at the tip
of the trunk. An Asian elephant has five toes on the front of the feet and and
four on the back.

A large bull could typically weighs six tons and is ten feet
high at the shoulder. As with gorillas, there is a large degree of sexual
dimorphism between males and females in Asian Elephants where adult females are
about half the size of the largest males.

The males have tusks and the females have 'tushes', which are
shore second incisors that just stick out beyond the upper lip. However, it is
important to note that on occasion females some times have longer tushes than
described.

The gestation period is between nineteen and twenty-two months.
Periodically, it is noted that male infants typically have a slightly longer
term than females.

SavannahLoxodonta Africana Africana

ForestLoxodonta Africana Cyclotis

Height

3-4 metres

2-3 metres

Weight

4-7 tonnes

2-4 tonnes

Colour

grey

dark grey

The African elephant,
Loxodonta Africana, have a straight back, enormous ears, and two trunk
'fingers'.

African
elephants are named for the peculiar shaped ridges of their molar teeth; the
ridges of an African elephant's teeth are coarser and fewer than those of the
Asian elephant.

The African elephant has only four toes on the front feet and
three on the back. Interestingly, it has one more vertebra in the lumbar
section of the spine.

Both sexes have tusks, and they are also larger in size as
compared to male and female Asian elephants.

The largest African elephant recorded weighed over nine tons
and stood more than twelve feet high at the shoulder. As in Asian elephants,
the female African elephant is generally half the size of a fully grown
male.

Gestation period tends to be slightly longer than in the Asian
elephant.

Physical Appearance: Asian
elephants differ in several ways from their African relatives. They have
smaller ears which are straight at the bottom, unlike the large fan-shape ears
of the African species. Asian elephants are much smaller, weighing between
6,615 and 11,020 pounds at a height of about 7 to 12 feet compared to the 8,820
to 15,430 at 10 to 13 feet of the African elephant.

The Sri Lankan species (E. m. maximus) is the largest, darkest, and
has patches of depigmentation (an area without color) on their ears,
face, trunk and belly. The Sumatran (E. m. sumatranus) elephant is the
smallest and lightest. The third sub-species, E. m. indicus has a mix of
characteristics from the two other sub-species.

Habitat: Asian elephants live in many different habitats including
open grasslands, marshes, savannas and forests.

IUCN Status: Endangered The IUCN's Species Survival Commission's
Asian Elephant Specialist Group estimates that there are approximately 38,000
to 51,000 wild Asian elephants. In comparison, there are more than 600,000
African elephants.

Threats To Survival: The loss of habitat is the primary threat to
Asian elephants. Approximately 20% of the world's population lives in or near
the range of Asian elephants. The homes of these elephants are being cleared
for many reasons including warfare, agricultural development, human settlement,
and logging. Asian elephants are less prone to poaching (killing
elephants for ivory tusks) because few males (and no females) grow tusks. In
China, the penalty for poaching is the death sentence.
Conflicts between Asian elephants and humans often occur because of habitat
destruction. Sometimes there is not enough food in small forests to sustain
elephants, so they look for the nearest source which is usually the field of a
local farmer. (profiled in The Wild Times Winter 1996 issue) is studying
this human-elephant conflict and looking for ways to ease the tension.

"Bath Time" Asian cow and calves in Sri Lanka
photo by Mary Pearl

Reproductive Cycle and Habits: Female Asian
elephants are capable of giving birth approximately every 4-6 years, about 7
calves in a lifetime. Babies are carried inside elephant mothers for 19-22
months, almost 2 years. Asian elephants can live as long as 60-70 old. When
adult male elephants search for a female to breed with they produce musth
fluid signaling females that they are ready to mate. Elephants live in
matriarchal (mother headed) families. Mothers, grandmothers, sisters and
aunts all help raising babies. Male Asian elephants live alone or in male only
groups.

Diet: Asian elephants are among the largest herbivores (plant
eaters) preferring grasses, leaves, trees, and shrubs. Their diet varies from
acacia trees to wild mangos.

Language: How many ways can you communicate? Asian elephants talk to
each other by touch, sound and scent. When a young Asian elephant is stressed
and nervous they will go to an adult and place the tip of their trunk in the
adults mouth. Elephants also use a broad range of sounds to communicate.
Recently scientists noticed elephants talk to each other at infrasonic
(sounds humans are unable to hear) levels. Males secrete musth, a signal to
local females that males are ready to reproduce.

Cultural Importance: Humans use elephants in Asia to log forests,
transport heavy loads and carry tourists. Elephants can walk in areas where
machines are unable to navigate. About 15,000 Asian elephants are held in
captivity as work animals. Elephants are important in Asian folklore and
religion. They are believed to be cousins of the clouds and able to cause
lightening.

THE SRI LANKAN
ELEPHANT

( Elephas maximus maximus)

HABITAT AND DISTRIBUTION

This Sri Lankan subspecies is confined to the island of Sri
Lanka (65,605 square kilometers, 25,332 square miles) off the southern coast of
India. Although there is no accurate census available, it is estimated that
about 2500-3000 elephants are still found in the wild, and a further 500 odd in
captivity. (ref: IUCN) It occupies a variety of habitats from open grasslands
to forested regions, including open savannas, wet areas of marshes and lake
shores. At the turn of the century more than 10,000 elephants were found
distributed all over the island. These numbers were rapidly depeleted, firstly
due to big game hunting, and subsequently because of rapid development and
deforestation, which in turn increased the conflict between man and elephant.
The remaining few thousands are confined to the national parks, while pockets
of small herds are strewn around in the north-eastern and eastern areas.

APPEARANCE

The Sri Lankan elephant is somewhat different to the African elephant where
firstly it has much smaller ears. The profile of it's back, is convex (males)
or straight and level (females), as the case may be,unlike that of the African
elephant, which is concave. Thus Sri Lankan male elephants have well rounded
backs which taper downwards steeply, while the females have straight flat
box-shaped profiles.

Another less obvious difference between the African and the Asian (Sri
Lankan) elephant is the tip of the trunk. The Asian species has two finger-like
protrutions while the African has one. The long and flexible trunk can weigh up
to 125 - 200 kilograms (275 - 440 pounds). Generally, the Asian elephant has
more hair on its body than the African elephant, and it is especially
conspicuous in the newborn and juveniles. The body colour could be anything
from dark gray of different shades, to dark brown, depending on the colour of
the soil and mud where the elephants have bathed and dusted.

Mature Sri Lankan elephants in particular display heavy pinkish pigmentation
of the skin around the ears, face and trunk. The head of the male has large and
pronounced bulges; those of the female are smaller.Only males sprout tusks
rarely. (in some cases even longer and heavier than those of the African
species)

SIZE

REPRODUCTION

All elephant species have one of the longest gestation periods in the animal
kingdom, of 18-20 months. One calf is usually born, weighing about 75 - 115
kilograms (165 - 225 pounds) and measure approximately 100 centimeters (3 feet
3 inches) at the shoulder. Elephants reach sexual maturity between the ages of
8 and 14 years, but this varies with the prevailing conditions of the habitat.
For instance during severe periods of draught, puberty may be delayed even up
to age of 14-15 years. A female elephant can give birth every 4 - 6 years, and
has the potential of giving birth to about 6-7 offspring in her lifetime, which
is about 55- 60 years.

DIET

The elephant has a very inefficient digestive system, where almost 45% of
it's food intake is passed through as undigested matter. As a result the
elephant spends most of it's life eating, and therefore has to seek out a
continous and abundant supply of food and water. Their diet is strictly
herbivorous. Most elephants consume 100 - 150 kilograms(220 - 330 pounds) of
food and 80 - 160 liters (20 - 40 gallons) of water per day. The Asian elephant
is adapted to be being a grazer rather than a browser. It's diet will include
different types of grasses, as well as juicy leaves and fruits.